Indonesia's massive volcano erupts, residents evacuated

Jakarta: Indonesia's highest volcano, Semeru in Java Island erupted spewing a 1.5 km high ash column on Sunday.

Lava flowed through the slopes of Semeru towards a nearby river, while villagers vere blanketed with falling ash which blocked the sun, according to reports.

The authorities said they had been evacuating residents of the two nearest villages, Supit Urang village and Sumber Wuluh village, and had warned other locals to stay away at least 13 kilometre from the eruption range, Xinhua news agency reported.

As of Sunday afternoon, the country's Volcano Disaster Mitigation of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has raised its volcanic alert level for Semeru volcano to level 4, the highest level of a four-tier volcanic alert system.

"We've also told all people living surrounding the volcano to not do any activities around Besuk Kobokan riverside as the river has a potential to flow hot clouds and lava," the spokesman of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Abdul Muhari, said in a written statement.

According to the reports by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Japan's Meteorology Agency is looking for possible Tsunami outbreaks triggered by the event occured in one of its neighbouring island.

Previously, on December 4, 2021, the Semeru volcano erupted, killing at least 51 people and injuring 169 others.

With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the largest population in the world living in close range to a volcano, including 8.6 million people living within 10 km of one.

-IANS Inputs